What speech businesses / colleges / restaurants may engage i

[Michael McConnell]

Rico Liwanag writes:

>         Hate speech may impact not only on "equal liberties" but also on freedom
> of speech itself.  Owen Fiss of Yale says that hate speech is restricted
> because it discourages the target group from participating in the
> deliberative activities of society.  They feel less entitled and less
> inclined to voice their views in the public square, and withdraw unto
> themselves.  It is as if the state intervened to silence them.
>
Is there any empirical evidence to support this? (I mean that as a
serious question, not as a rhetorical question.) My casual
observation suggests the opposite: that there is nothing like a hate
speech incident to stimulate massive, organized response from the
victim group and their allies. Indeed, I sometimes offer this as an
argument for allowing hate speech, that it reminds us of the
persistence of bigotry, and thus keeps us on guard.


-- Michael McConnell (U of Utah)